


More Than a Ghost

by MomentarilySane



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Doctors visit, Gen, Martin doesn't know how many people care about him, Martin gets some help, Papa Martin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 01:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MomentarilySane/pseuds/MomentarilySane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin claims he's practically the ghost in the attic to the agricultural students, but when visiting Douglas discovers the truth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than a Ghost

“Thanks for picking me up Douglas,” Martin sighed. 

“Anything for sir, but might I inquire as to why sir requested I pick him up from the doctor?” Douglas raised an eyebrow.

“I know, it’s quite trivial, but the doctor insisted he couldn’t let me operate a vehicle with my blood pressure as high as it is and I need to take this specific medication and it was too overwhelming-”

“-Yes, I understand that Martin,” Douglas cut in with an impatient huff. “What I don’t understand was why you called me,” Douglas insisted.

“Oh, right. Well, it’s just that you my friend and he said to call a friend who I could count on and you being my friend it seemed you fit the description well. Not to mention your name begins with D so on my contacts list it’s relatively high up there you know,” Douglas could see Martin was falling into a bout of awkward rambling.

“Martin,” Douglas interjected, giving him a quick glance before returning his eyes to the road.

“Alright, I don’t have anyone. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Martin groaned.

“Anyone? Well that’s awfully hard to believe,” Douglas figured Martin had to be over exaggerating. “What about your family? Your Mum, Caitlin and Simon?” he reminded Martin.

“We’re not all that close really. Yeah, we’ll all band together when Mum is ill, but I’m sort of a black sheep. The only one who is guaranteed to answer my phone call would be Mum, but I can’t ask her to come pick me up in her health,” Martin finished with a light frown on his face.

“Well you must surely have friends outside of Carolyn, Arthur and myself?” Douglas tried.

“Not really. In school I was so focused on my studies and airplanes that I didn’t make any friends, and it’s quite hard to make friends outside of school,” Martin’s frown deepened into his face a bit more.

“How about those kids you live with?” Douglas tried a last ditch attempt.

“The agricultural students? I don’t reckon they notice me that much. I’m sort of like the friendly ghost in the attic to them,” Martin answered, his eyes gazing reflectively out the side window. Douglas beginning to feel uncomfortable quickly aborted his line of questioning.

“How about this medicine?” he switched topics.

“Oh, I’ve got to pick it up from the pharmacist but I’m not sure when I can make it out or if I can even afford it. I might just skip it and hope my blood pressure goes down naturally,” Martin shrugged.

Douglas was just pulling up Martin’s house at that. “Let me see the prescription,” Douglas turned to Martin, the car now in park.

“Why?” Martin eyed Douglas wearily.

“Just let me see,” he pressed. Martin handed the piece of paper over. After a quick skim Douglas nodded to himself. “This is relatively cheap. Let me pick it up for you tomorrow and I’ll drop it by.”

Martin’s frown returned to his face. “I can’t ask you to do that Douglas!”

“You’re not asking me, I’m offering,” Douglas clarified in a matter of fact tone.

“Why would you offer that?” Martin asked uncertainly. Douglas didn’t want to admit that he kind of felt bad for Martin’s situation. That he cared about his wellbeing and wanted to help in anyway he could.

So, instead he simply answered “It’s always nice to have someone owe you a favour.”

He could see that he won the fight when Martin’s shoulders sagged slightly. “Alright, thank you Douglas. And thank you for the ride, but I’m tired. I’ll see you tomorrow then,” and with that Martin exited the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Douglas pulled up to the house mid-afternoon the next day. He collected together Martin’s medication before making his way up to the door. He was careful on the stairs, not quite trusting the creaky planks to hold out. After successfully making his way up he knocked on the door soundly.

A young woman with soft features and long blond hair answered the door. “Hello, I’m looking for Martin?” Douglas wore his most charming smile.

She gave him a quick once over before recognition dawned her features. “Are you Douglas?” she perked up slightly.

“Ah, my reputation precedes me,” Douglas masked his shock.

“Martin tells me stories about MJN occasionally, if we’re both up late” she replied sheepishly before opening the door a little wider. “He’s in the attic,” she gestured down the hall to a staircase. After thanking her, Douglas continued down the hall. Peering into the rooms he managed to locate a living room, bathroom, kitchen and a dining area. He ascended the stairs, passing one other floor that he assumed held bedrooms, before coming to the door of the attic.

Douglas knocked once before entering. Surprised to find Martin sitting with a young man with black hair, the two pouring over a textbook. “Hi Douglas, just a second” Martin greeted, glancing up from the textbook. Douglas noted the title as ‘Agriculture Through History’. “One more, global exchange began in…”

The boys face creased in momentary thought before relaxing into a slight grin, “1492.”

“Correct, and the key crops of trade were what?” 

“Maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes and manioc for wheat, barley, rice and turnips,” the boy recited. 

“Good, that’s perfect,” Martin beamed at the boy who returned the smile. “Take a break, we’ll pick up after dinner.”

The boy nodded, “Thanks a lot for this Martin,” he said before leaving, a small nod towards Douglas on his way. 

Once he left, Douglas turned to Martin with an eye brow raised in question. “What?” Martin demanded.

“Yes, these students don’t notice you at all I see…” Douglas nodded.

“Come off it. I’ve lived through so many generations, some of them decide to ask me for help studying since I have a vague grasp of the material,” Martin rolled his eyes.

“Yes, well I have the pills,” Douglas tossed them on the bed next to where Martin sat.

“Thanks so much Douglas, I can repay you,” Martin began but trailed off as Douglas shook his head.

“Nonsense. I must make sure my captain is in top shape for flying.”

“Douglas,” Martin groaned.

“It’s really not the big of a deal. The instructions say to take them twice a day so best start them now. Let me run and grab you a glass of water,” Douglas turned to the door.

“Really Douglas, I’m fine, you don’t need to fetch me water! Let me get it,” Martin moved to get up but once more Douglas shook his head.

“Martin, relax, it’s fine. Contrary to popular belief I like helping, so humor me,” Douglas watched as any fight deflated from Martin. With that he headed into the kitchen.

There he found the same young woman who answered the door standing with another girl who stood slightly taller and had long brown curls. “Douglas,” the blond girl smiled.

“Hello again. My apologies, I missed your name,” he recovered quickly.

“Alexis,” she said with a warm smile. “And this here is Megan,” she gestured to the other girl. “Megan, this is one of the guys Martin works with.”

“Oh! What are you doing here? I can’t see Martin doing anything wrong at work,” she laughed slightly.

“Megan! He’s not just a colleague, they’re friends too,” Alexis reproached her.

“Indeed,” Douglas hesitated a moment. “I was just dropping off some medicine for him and now fetching him some water,” he explained and watched the girls reactions. Alexis frowned in concern while Megan’s face creased in confusion. Douglas found these new developments interesting.

“Is Papa Martin okay?” Megan blurted out.

“Megan,” Alexis groaned, trying to hide her bright red face behind her hair.

“Papa Martin?” Douglas couldn’t hide the mirth from his voice.

“Please don’t tell him!” Alexis quickly jumped in. “It’s just a nickname we have for him. He’s always taking care of us. Little things, y’know. Keeping us company when we can’t sleep, studying and so on,” she wore a fond smile as she spoke of it.

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Douglas assured her, keeping his face serious while he filed away the information.

“Thank you, the cups are up there,” she indicated a cupboard, clearly trying to keep away from anymore embarrassing developments. As Douglas opened the cupboard, he noticed a jar of money sitting right in front. He glanced over his shoulder with a questioning expression.

“Oh, um, that’s our grocery jar. Especially around exam time, we tend to forget to restock the necessities like milk and bread. So if that happens Martin will grab some of that money and restock for us,” she explained. Douglas nodded before continuing on with his task. He reflected that this was probably the first time most of these kids were living without their parents. Naturally, these things would slip their minds.

He retrieved the water before excusing himself from the two girls and returning to the attic. “Douglas! How long does it take you to get a glass of water?” Martin grumbled from the bed. 

“Just mingling with the students,” Douglas handed over the glass.

“No! Douglas, they’re off limits,” Douglas had never seen such an intense glare from his captain.

“I’m wounded Martin, my intentions were pure. We just chatted,” Douglas wore a frown at the implication.

“What on earth did you chat about then?” Martin watched him with distrustful eyes.

“Oh nothing of consequence, Papa Martin,” Douglas smiled to himself at Martin’s confusion. When he opened his mouth to ask Douglas quickly announced “I must be off, I’ll see you for the cargo flight on Thursday sir,” and quickly left Martin to think on that.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wondered how the dynamic works in the student housing Martin lives in. I really love Papa Martin though, so this came about.


End file.
